Leaderboard

I think it is clear that after 18 games we have done remarkably well and set ourselves up with a chance. However after 23 games we will have a much bigger clue as to our destiny for this season. Our previous mental fragility when asked the big domestic questions arose again from nowhere on Wednesday and after an hour yesterday a large number of us would have been forgiven for starting to think we were watching a rerun of seasons past. At full time we took a huge sigh of relief as we finally found the way through the wall of ‘Well, and it is another game we can say that we definitely wouldn’t have won it last year which gives us hope that we are a different animal this year. To my mind we have 5 games to win the league. Win our next 5 games, we will have a minimum 10 point lead (in real terms) with just 15 games to go and we will have ticked off another set of games against the best 3 sides in the league. It should be cruise time from there. Anything less and we open the door to the bheasts, and allow the questions of bottle to magnify as the run in continues.

18 SPFL games.....20 remaining 16 wins.....................0 defeats 50 goals and 50 points That is some going !

Rangers answer questions on title credentials after crucial win against Motherwell Rangers extended their lead in the SPL to 16 points at Ibrox today, answering questions about their mentality in a hard fought but deserved win against Motherwell. If any game should have deemed a formality this weekend, it would be the meeting at Ibrox today. Going into the game Rangers had only lost one game in all competitions, had a achieved a 27 game unbeaten run and were looking for a tenth successive league win. But an unexpected bump in the road, thanks to a defeat in the BetFred Cup to St Mirren on Wednesday, had raised the age old questions about the mentality of Steven Gerrard’s Rangers and winning when it mattered. Approaching January, the month where things have traditionally gone wrong for the former Liverpool legend, the timing of the defeat on Wednesday could not have been worse. Add to the equation that Celtic appeared to have turned a corner of late, then you can understand why there was a greater sense of anxiety around those with blue tinted noses going into the game. But Rangers answered those questions emphatically with a vital win. Gerrard made five changes to his side, bringing in Filip Helander, Borna Barisic, Glen Kamara, Steven Davis and Jermain Defoe to replace Leon Balogun, Calvin Bassey, Bongani Zungu, Joe Aribo and Cedric Itten. Rangers started brightly, with Jermaine Defoe forcing a save from Jordan Archer and then hitting a shot just wide of the post in the first couple of minutes. But Rangers found themselves one down after some more slack defending in the sixth minute. Borna Barisic failed to stop Stephen O'Donnell firing a low cross across the face of the goal, and Callum Lang scored at the back post to put the visitors 1-0 up. Rangers had an opportunity to get a quick equaliser with a free kick just outside the box, but James Tavernier couldn’t repeat his heroics of last week fired it just over the bar. Ryan Kent then had a great chance to equalise on 25 minutes after some good work from Tavernier allowed Steve Davis to send in a great cross, which Kent headed just wide of the post. Then Roofe turned nicely in the box but fired his shot straight at Archer. Rangers were turning up the heat by this point and Tavernier had a great chance at the back post after Barisic sent in a great cross, but the Englishman, looking for his 18th goal of the season, failed to connect with it properly. Steven Gerrard introduced Joe Aribo at half-time in place of Glen Kamara in attempt to get Rangers back in the game. But for long periods Rangers looked devoid of any invention or creation, despite having the lion share of possession. In an attempt to inspire some sort of reaction Gerrard introduced Hagi for Arfield and Itten for Defoe. Rangers continued to dominate possession, but there was a strong feeling of déjà vu about proceedings until the 72nd minute when Kemar Roofe equalised when he turned inside the box and hammered home after Motherwell failed to clear their lines. Roofe then came close to giving Rangers the lead minutes later when his header went inches past the post. Rangers still needed a winner, however, and it arrived with eight minutes to go thanks to substitute Cedric Itten after James Tavernier’s corner evaded everyone in a crowded six yard box and he headed in at the back post. It was a huge moment for Rangers and they secured the win in the 94th minute when Joe Aribo stabbed the ball to Roofe in the box who turned and finished from close range in a similar fashion to his first. Steven Gerrard was delighted with the win afterwards stating: “I’m really proud and pleased with how we reacted to going a goal down. We kept asking questions all afternoon. We were relentless at finding a way back into the game. It was important that players stuck to their roles. “Eventually our success came. It was about staying calm at the half-time and making the subs at the right time. I thought the subs were really, really big for us today”. RANGERS: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Arfield, Davis, Kamara, Roofe, Kent, Defoe. SUBS: McLaughlin, Bassey, Hagi, Itten, Zungu, Patterson, Aribo, Barker, Stewart. MOTHERWELL: Archer, O'Donnell, Gallagher, Mugabi, Lamie, Grimshaw, O'Hara, Crawford, Campbell, Lang, Watt. SUBS: Chapman, McGinley, White, Maguire, Seedorf, Polworth, Cornelius, Johnston, Cole. REFEREE: Don Robertson

Only watched penalty shoot out and what happened is down to arrogance of last two Jambos players by playing to the media with powder puff kicks,my grandson could have saved them. Hearts had game won till these two imbeciles took their kicks.

I worry when I see words like "cruise time" in relation to this current Rangers team.

I rarely watch them when they are on TV but caught about the last 20mins of the 90mins. Weirdly, the outcome and performance from the today is probably the best outcome for us. They struggled to defeat an average Championship side over 120mins, but it'll be enough to keep TLB in a job and for their dillusional fans that they are world beaters again. From what I saw, they are no better than average, this is a huge chance for us to win 55 and one we can't let slip.

Thought Aribo and Hagi did well when they came on too

How many thought about compensatory control at some point during this 90 minutes ? ? That's 3 games and no clean sheets against provincial clubs that have all gone down to the wire. We won the 2 most important of them and lost the other. In relative terms, it's a blip of sorts but importantly, it hasn't had a negative impact on pursut of the main title. However, with a tough fixture list on the horizon, if we can't get back into the habit of regular clean sheets, we will start dropping points. Yesterday, we didn't get our now customary first half goal(s) and given the loss in midweek, I wondered if the crowd sound effects would include a few boos at HT ? With a crowd, you wonder if the players would have been allowed to stick to the patient version of wearing an opponent down. Yesterday saw our 10th consectutive League victory. By my reckoning, that is the first time we've done that since 2007/08, when Walter Smith's UEFA Cup Final team went 13 League victories IAR and it started on Boxing day with a 3-1 win at Ibrox against Motherwell. Like Roofe yesterday, Kris Boyd scored an injury-time third goal. This was less than a year since PLG sat in the dugout. Motherwell were involved then as well, with Boyd scoring a penalty accompanied by a 6 finger salute. The warning being that after those 13 wins, came a nightmare fixture pile-up, 4 league games without a win and we got pipped at the post for the title. On the other hand, we also reached a European Final, but it came at a cost. With that in mind and an eye on the big prize, not having further League Cup games into 2021 might not be the worst thing. But for now, as 26th's thread says....one game at a time.

Roofe no debate. Ball was behind him for both his goals, incredible!

There are many managers having to do what they do to thwart our team,which is unattractive and boring but there is only one filthy piece of scum manager IMO?.

Thanks guys, that is totally outrageous and makes a mockery of this decision to be playing football while no crowds can attend. Even more outrageous is the ST Mirren kick off time on a Wednesday afternoon at 3.00. What possible justification for this can there be? What is our club administrators doing about this? Did we sign up for this nonsense? Are they really wanting people to travel to Perth to stand on that hill where you can see half the pitch?

It's worth noting that the St Mirren game has been moved to a 3pm kick off too.

No, you'll either have to buy it direct from St Johnstone @ £17.50 or get it via RTV using a VPN.... Same with the St Mirren game next week.

I'm only thinking of the next game, and I hope the team are too.

It's up to us to make sure he really goes down in history as the guy that lost them 10

I think the motherwell result is hugely important. In past seasons, 1-0 down with 20 minutes to play heads would have gone down and we'd more have ended up conceding more goals more often than we'd come back and salvage a point. This time obviously we took all 3. Perhaps more importantly, we've shown that we're able to break down packed defences, again in past seasons a side facing us 5-5-0 would have been obvious to everyone what was going to happen, this time we faced it broke it and scored 3. A massive result and shows the credentials we need to drive the season forwards and hopefully wrap up 55.

Went for Davis....even when in the first half things were not going his way he kept prodding away and drove us on into the 2nd half.

Maybe Arsenal should have sent for Sam

Highlighted many times before; however, Jum Spence is the weathervane for such activity. After last Sunday's match at Tannadice, United fan(stop laughing at the back) and Rectum of Dundee Uni', Jum Spence Tweeted on a dozen or more occasions demanding retrograde action on Morelos from the Compliance Officer. The usual suspects in the PQ Gang Hut compliently agreed and re-Tweeted. Jum concluded with an appeal for foreign Referees when United played Rangers in future. Wednesday night at Paisley had Jum in a party hat, each St Mirren goal warranted it's own Tweet. The post match draw for the cup semis was in Jum's opinion delayed because they had to wait for the pre-heated ball to cool down as it was no longer needed. Again, Jum culminated the next afternoon with a picture of Jim Goodwin, with the accompanying sentence : "the most objective and fair minded manager in Scottish football". Yesterday, Jum Tweeted 'Well's goal, then on the hour mark Tweeted : "an hour played, Rangers 0 Motherwell 1". Nothing since. Remember, Jum is Rectum to all Undergraduates, not just the Rangers hating ones.

All league games are huge but the next few weeks will tell us a lot about whether we're going to win the league. I expect us to drop points but hope I'm wrong.

Rather than yesterday’s win against Motherwell, I think our next 5 games will be more important to us if we’re to win the title. We’ve got always against St Johnstone, St Mirren & Aberdeen and two homes against Hibz &the yahoos. Win all of them & we’re in a very strong position indeed.

Sheffield Utd and West Brom look as if they’ve booked two places so only one more available. On the other hand Allardyce has a good record for keeping teams in the league. Just possible the Arsenal could stumble onto the down escalator. Arteta said on Friday that things were going to plan. Rotten plan.

Not done it in a while, but published:

Agreed, I said a week or so ago that this period, up to and including Hibs (A) in January would be where we win or possibly, lose the title. Seven points (+GD) is a healthy gap but it could flip in a fortnight. On the other hand, foot on the throat and we can close the deal before Feburary.

Our one and only focus should be 3pts against St. Johnstone away on Wednesday. Level of performance, clean sheets, GD etc. are all bonuses at this stage of the season. There is no point in playing amazing, getting a clean sheet and then only drawing the game.

Every outfield player in their own box, with 7 of them in and around the 6 yard box - expansive footbl right there

By the way thank god the stadium was empty today.

Hopefully a Hearts win as a fitting tribute too